Rejection
by Hikari Daeron
Summary: flippantshipping. Ryuji Otogi was not used to rejection. Then again, maybe he could get used to the idea.


Me: Flippantshipping time! I've never written a DukexMai – I know, WTF Compy!!! – but I _really _like this one, and suddenly, I _love _the idea. But only as an idea – I've suddenly drawn a hundred parallels between the two, so I think they work perfectly as a one-sided on his part. (I've always been a polar fan… (grins)) I solemnly swear this is better than my libera. It's a lot shorter than my other four fics for the contest – but I am _really _proud of this one. _Really _proud. If I'm out this round – like I was almost the last one! (wipes brow) Thanks for the tiebreaker votes, guys! – then I'll be sorely disappointed, because I think it's my best yet. (I thought my silent was my worst – besides my libera, I mean – but that had the most votes? Counterintuitive.)

Third person limited POV, focusing on Otogi – a.k.a. Duke. Manga (Otogi's past)/sub (DOMA) events/names used. One-sided. I wrote this as taking place after Yami leaves – but it works for after DOMA, too. This may seem a bit OOC, but I think it really works for the manga Otogi, when you think about it. Maybe I'm wrong… but I think it works. Also, I'm pretty sure Mai hits the road after DOMA and doesn't really come back, which is a large part of this. If she does… well, let's say she doesn't!

Disclaimer: Hikari Daeron does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any affiliations. This work was written exclusively for the aforementioned contest.

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_**Rejection**_

Otogi Ryuji was not used to rejection.

For the majority of his life, he was the heartthrob wherever he went. Girls would melt before his eyes, his sensuous touch leaving them hot for more. He even had a few boys confessing their desire – knowing that they did not possess the ability to take the mighty Otogi, they instead asked to be taken. If he was bored, he sometimes took them up on the offer – but it never amused him as much as the reactions of the ladies.

The minute he met Kujaku Mai, Otogi knew that she would be his next target.

Otogi… never thought of people as _human_. They were almost always his toys. Not even Kawai Shizuka changed this about him – while he pretended to care and "love" her, she, too, was only something to play with. But how would he ever be able to enjoy himself with that bottomless pit Jounouchi always breathing down his neck? In the end, he let that pathetic loser Honda pick her up from off the ground.

Kujaku Mai made Otogi's manhood spring into action. She flaunted her body, she was blatantly obvious that she would take on any man, and if that corset wasn't an invite to take it off…

But she had rejected him.

Otogi… hadn't expected that. Sometimes, in the past, girls would try to restraint themselves by "taunting" him. He knew when this was the case, so he wooed them with empty promises and pretty things. He was patient with them. In the end, they all came around. When he broke their hearts, he made sure it was after he had gotten what he wanted.

But Kujaku Mai was different. He tried to talk to her, she ignored him. He paid her compliments and gave her nice presents; the presents were returned unopened and the compliments never repaid. At first, he thought she was merely a tough customer – no _way _was that girl not a whore underneath that leather. But now, nearly three years later…

He had focused on getting Shizuka, for the majority of those three years. Her innocence was enough to turn anyone on. But he gave up on that after Battle City – she never called him. He figured it was Jounouchi's fault. But then the DOMA fiasco rolled around, and he suddenly found himself drawn to the girl that had supposedly betrayed the beloved group: Kujaku Mai.

Jounouchi loved her. Otogi knew it from the moment he saw how ardently the blonde had gone after her. He had chased her down, then had sacrificed his soul for her – Otogi would never have done that for anyone. He liked the Mouto group well enough, but… he could never claim to _love _like they did. His life had been filled with the hatred of his father because Mouto Sugoroku had forced him to age fifty years in one day. Yugi had taught him kindness… but he could never become one of them. He could never trust as they did, never forgive as easily. It seemed as if he was accepted in their group… but he often wondered if _he_ accepted _them_.

Kujaku Mai was the same. He knew that; she had said it herself when she dueled Jounouchi in Industrial Illusions. She could never become one of them, even though they "accepted" her. She had harbored the hate and rage that he had. After all, was she not a blackjack dealer – and by grace, a prostitute – aboard that unknown cruise ship all those years ago? He had a past. So did she. They were identical.

So then, what was the problem? Why, when he had approached her, had she told him no? Was it that she already had her eye on someone else? Jounouchi, perhaps, or even that motorcycle freak Varon? Was it that she thought that Shizuka might love him, and didn't want to a hurt someone she truly cared for? Was it that she saw through him, and knew all he wanted was sex?

He had never become attached to anyone before. So _why _was it that he was so affected by the rejection? He thought about it constantly. When she walked away, he felt as if she had punched him in the stomach and then slapped him in the face. He felt lifeless.

It wasn't – he couldn't be – impossible! No way was he – but why –

She gave him butterflies. When she walked by him, all he wanted to do was inhale that heavenly perfume and drink in the natural scent of her skin. He wanted to run his fingers through that long, golden hair, whisper things in her ears that would make her shiver, kiss her until it was all she could do to stand…

But she had told him no, and then had disappeared, out of his life forever.

Otogi didn't understand it. For the first time in his life, he was beginning to care about someone that _wasn't _himself. And that someone had walked out of his life as quickly as she had entered it. She had disappeared after DOMA. She had lost her soul, gotten it back again, then disappeared. He never got to say goodbye.

He was a loner, like she was. He liked to be on the road, constantly traveling. He preferred the solitude that isolation and reflection brought as opposed to the conversation of friends. Wasn't she the same way? Hadn't she said so herself?

He had left Yugi-tachi, as she did. He had gone looking for something better, something _more_, just as she had. So then, why should she reject the one person who _understood_?

Perhaps that was the problem. They were too… similar. They both knew too much about the other because they knew themselves. In the end, their similarities would drive them apart and lead them to separate roads anyway. Why not just spare themselves the misery?

Besides, she had always preferred Jounouchi, hadn't she? And he could always go back to Shizuka. Or perhaps Rebecca – once he got over the age difference, and the fact that she was so _short_, she was pretty cool. For a kid that was a college student that was only like, what, eight? Okay, maybe not that young – point being, he was _Otogi Ryuji_! He could get any girl he wanted, right?

Right?

Right. All he had to do with twirl his dice and show off his pretty hair, and then he could get any girl he wanted.

Except for this one.

Otogi Ryuji wasn't used to rejection, but then again, there was a first time for everything.

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Me: I hope I'm not wrong about this… I actually like it a lot. The ending was hard, but overall… (holds breath) 


End file.
